Earpieces, earphones, headsets, headphones or other handsfree solutions are commonly utilized to keep the sound private and/or to facilitate multitasking when listening to music, talking in the phone, getting body function updates from your wristlet etc. Due to the rapid development of new electronic devices, e.g. mp3 players, tablets, smart phones, wearables, etc., where the sound experience plays an important role, the technique for transmittal of sound to the earpieces has undergone major improvements.
Conventional headphones or earpieces are generally wired to audio devices. However, such systems are not really convenient for the user. For example, the wires disturb the user because she/he cannot move as freely as usual and the wires also have a tendency to end up in a tangle. Moreover, there is a risk of breaking the wires or any of its contacts, which makes the complete headset unusable.
For some time, wires can be avoided by utilizing different kinds of short range wireless solutions, also referred to as Personal Area Network (PAN) solutions. Examples are; Bluetooth® (BT), infrared Data Association (IrDA), ZigBee®, Ultra WideBand (UWB), etc. However, the radio-frequency (RF) techniques have some drawbacks, e.g. there might be a limited operating time due to relatively high power consumption of the RF transceiver, there is a risk of interference with other RF systems operating in the same frequency band, and the user is exposed to potentially harmful RF radiation. Moreover, the user needs to manually pair wearables, e.g. wristlets with the portable electronic device, in order to establish a RF connection between them.
Even though the above-mentioned known devices and methods of controlling data transfer between portable electronic devices, by wire or wirelessly, are relatively straight-forward for a user of mobile devices and wearables, such as mobile telephones, headphones, headsets, microphones, speakers and/or wristlets, there is an increasing demand in the audio and mobile phone market for even more easy, quick and user-friendly ways of using a mobile phone or other portable electronic device and wearable communication devices, e.g. headsets.
In particular, with regard to audio and voice communication, there is a need to simplify the user interaction with mobile phones and any headphones, and there is a need for faster, easier and more intuitive ways of controlling pairing of such devices by means of easy and convenient methods. Moreover, there is a need to guarantee that it is the correct headphones that are connected to the electronic device. It is important to ensure that the user's electronic device establish a connection with the user's own headphones, and not with the headphones of someone else, i.e. the user's portable electronic device should not establish a connection with another pair of headphones belonging to the person next to the user on the bus or the train.